Thrustmaster Hotas Warthog - Dual Throttle and Control Stick with H.E.A.R.T HallEffect AccuRate Technology for PC

Just the best Hotas you can buy, I keep seeing the price being refered to as one of the "cons" with this kit but believe me, you are getting a heck of a lot of HOTAS for your money. My last HOTAS was also a Thrustmaster, the F22pro with TQS throttle, cost way more than the Warthog and was all (very high quality) plastic. BUT that stick and throttle was in daily use for 23 years! I never needed to buy another setup, when gameports were abolished, I converted it to USB and I fully expect it to last another 23 years too if it wasn't for my need to replace it with the Warthog. Like many others I have fallen in love with the A10-C simulation by DCS, probably the most detailed and accurate sim outside of the commercial market (and probably better than most of them). The Warthog stick is detected by the sim and "just works". Must say I am not a fan of the red china hat switch top or the flap switch top, may need to get a chunkier set 3d printed but I'm not going top mark it down for that, it's still better than any of the competition. The feel of the stick is much lighter than I am used to, the F22 had springs from a Sherman Tank and this is a revelation, so much easier to control the ship with. Buttons are nicely placed and weighted and feel very professional, solid and smooth action. The throttles move smoothly and have adjustable damping, an off/idle detent and a switchable afterburner detent (allen key supplied). As everybody else has said, these are HEAVY bits of kit and they need to be so they don't move around when in use (which they don't). All in all the best stick and throttle I have ever used, even better than my F22pro and TQS. I know the price looks steep but my last TM cost a lot more than this but ended up being the cheapest HOTAS I ever bought, 23 years before it got replaced, I fully expect the Warthog to rival it for quality and longevity, I have no doubt, this will be the LAST, CHEAPEST HOTAS I will ever buy :)

Having owned or tried almost every more or less serious HOTAS available in PC Gaming market, I can confidently state that HOTAS Warthog is among the best money can buy today.More than enough has been said and written already about this wonderful controller, so I am not going to throw in yet another bunch of relatively meaningless "WOW"s, "IT'S JUST FANTASTIC!"s etc. Let's talk about some picky details, and some practical considerations, that are less often reported in user reviews, but are equally as important BEFORE you buy the product, as reading the WOWs of happy owners LOL!1) It IS BIG and HEAVY! Especially the throttle part. So make sure you know how you plant the two devices. No flimsy shelves here! The stick is tall, meaning that if you place it on your desk, it will be in an even more acqward position relative to your body. This stick almost REQUIRES lower-level installation somewhere between your legs. Remember, unlike the COUGAR, which was modelled after F-16 Block 50 - a side-stick type of cockpit, the Warthog replicats the stick of A10, which has a centrally located stick.2) Stick stiffness is very comfortable: it's softer than the original HOTAS Cougar, the older TM F22Pro/TQS combo, and muuuuch smoother than the ancient TM X-Fighter. Much less of a workout gear than previous TM's top controllers :) And, because of this, it's a lot more stable free-standing on the desk, especially given a much larger (and heavier) base plate.3) Throttles are trickier. While the movement itself is smoother than HOTAS Throttle (even with tightenend tension adjustment mechanism), however, detents are where all the fun starts. As you can read from reviews, Warthog throttle allows you to have one or two detents: Cut-Off and WEP, or just the Cut-Off. You can remove the WEP detent, but there's nothing you could to with Idle Detent. Both detents require handles to be pulled up a little to come over the detent. They're spring-returned down once past the detend point. There's no user-friendly way to adjust the spring force for the "pull-up" function, and unfortunately, the spring is IMO way too stiff. The result is immediate: this heavy beast jumps up every time you pull the handles to go over detents. The only way to avoid it is to somehow fix the throtte base on a surface.4) The new programming interface (T.A.R.G.E.T.) in my view is worse than the original FOXY application, it's a lot less obvious. However, it's powerful, flexible and does the job. Just takes time for us old-school Cougar users to get used to it :-)5) Connection and DX functionality. There's one thing I would like to note here. Unlike Cougar, the stick and the throttle each have a separate USB cable that plugs into the PC. For the users, it means two things: first, you will need more ports than with almost any other HOTAS on the market (Cougar, Saitek X52/X52Pro/X65F etc). Second, by default DX will see two separate controllers. It's not a problem for most modern titles, because they can interface with multiple DirectInput controllers. However, if you want to run a REALLY ANCIENT title, which only knows how to work with one DX controller, you'll not be able to use it in default mode.To fix this, T.A.R.G.E.T. can COMBINE the two into a single virtual HOTAS WARTHOG controller, which is a fantastic feature. The only downside is that you'll lose some of the DX buttons as the total number of physical buttons/switches on the two is beyond 32, which is the current DirectInput limit per single controller ID.That's about it, folks, hope some of you will find this review useful.Clear skies!SV_huMMer out.

Having owned this for a few months now i will give my opinion.It is a heavy beefy piece of kit, sit it on the desk, and be prepared to work out when you want to move it!It is very fluid in it movement, no jerky movements, it is great, and very well put together.I have owned various other HOTAS, and they were ok, or even good- right up to the point of breaking- in some cases it was broken out of the box - Saitek/madcats- Never again!pros and cons++ it is solid metal, Solid- OH YES - the joystick part that you hold on to with your right hand weighs more than my old X55(which was good, but cak build quality) and that is not even including the base- it is solid.++ it is heavy, and will not slide about your desk like a lot of the other ones.++ it is great for Elite Dangerous- No twist yar, which is not that big of a deal, as i simply use the secondary trigger to move left/ right (it has a 5 was switch - l/r, up, down and press to fire). Once you get used to doing it, it feels natural.- It is quite a price, BUT you get what you pair for- having killed 5 X55 rhinos in under 1 year, due to the utter inferior build quality, this beats them hands down!Overall i`d say if you are a serious game, and want a quality piece of kit VS as expensive piece of plastic(Saitek) then get this one, if you cant afford it, then wait for the Thrustmaster thruster block (estimated £100) and get a t1600 flight stick with it.Basically this is the dogs dodads of the HOTAS world- just buy it, and you wont regret it- only your bank manager(or wife) will...

Nice quality, nice and heavy with responsive switches that are nice and clicky too.However, the little handle that locks together both throttles is a bit flimsy in the sense that in use it will come undone and you can feel both throttles becoming unsynced in your hands. It stops feeling like a single solid throttle when latched together